---
title:  Data Regions
---

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The region is the core building block of the Apache Geode distributed system. All cached data is organized into data regions and you do all of your data puts, gets, and querying activities against them.

-   **[Data Region Management](../../basic_config/data_regions/managing_data_regions.html)**

    Apache Geode provides different APIs and XML configuration models to support configuration and management of your data regions.

-   **[Creating a Region with gfsh](../../basic_config/data_regions/create_a_region_with_gfsh.html)**

    A simple and fast way to create a data region in the Apache Geode cache is to use the `gfsh` command-line tool.

-   **[Creating a Region Through the cache.xml File](../../basic_config/data_regions/create_a_region_with_cacheXML.html)**

    A common way to create a data region in the Apache Geode cache is through `cache.xml` declarations.

-   **[Creating a Region Through the API](../../basic_config/data_regions/create_a_region_with_API.html)**

    You can use the Geode caching API to create regions in your cache after startup. For run-time region creation, you need to use the API.

-   **[Region Naming](../../basic_config/data_regions/region_naming.html)**

    To be able to perform all available operations on your data regions, 
follow these region naming guidelines.

-   **[Region Shortcuts and Custom Named Region Attributes](../../basic_config/data_regions/region_shortcuts.html)**

    Geode provides region shortcut settings, with preset region configurations for the most common region types. For the easiest configuration, start with a shortcut setting and customize as needed. You can also store your own custom configurations in the cache for use by multiple regions.

-   **[Storing and Retrieving Region Shortcuts and Custom Named Region Attributes](../../basic_config/data_regions/store_retrieve_region_shortcuts.html)**

    Use these examples to get started with Geode region shortcuts.

-   **[Managing Region Attributes](../../basic_config/data_regions/managing_region_attributes.html)**

    Use region attributes to fine-tune the region configuration provided by the region shortcut settings.

-   **[Creating Custom Attributes for Regions and Entries](../../basic_config/data_regions/creating_custom_attributes.html)**

    Use custom attributes to store information related to your region or its entries in your cache. These attributes are only visible to the local application and are not distributed.

-   **[Building a New Region with Existing Content](../../basic_config/data_regions/new_region_existing_data.html)**

    A new region or distributed system may need to be loaded with the data of an existing system. There are two approaches to accomplish this task. The approach used depends upon the organization of both the new and the existing distributed system.


